Too Small

U

Unregistered

Guest
Hello,

This is an update to the post I made the other day. I have a 2002 Echo and drive a 5yr old, 22 month old and 3.5 month old who are all foster children. Their mom attends my church.

My problem is that I can't fit 2 carseats and a booster across my backseat. I went to Babies r us and tried a Graco comfort sport and had also tried a Graco Car Go the other day. There is no way I can squeeze 3 seats in, looks like a couple inches too short. I ended up buying a Safety First Enspira because it looked narrow and not too bulky and was on sale. I also have a Cosco Regal Ride and Graco backless booster.

So, what can I do? The situation has changed where the older 2 children will be moving into the foster home of the baby and I need to have space for them all in my car on the weekends. The 5 yr. old is a solid child weight wise, but I'm not comfortable placing her in the back seat without a booster. Can anyone tell me if the Safety 1st seat belt adjuster is safe? On their website it says it's crash tested. I'm thinking it's either that or no booster.

Thank you for your help.
 
ADS
U

Unregistered

Guest
Those seat belt adjusters are not safe. They pull the lap belt up too high on the child's stomach and rarely put the shoulder belt in the proper place. I would suggest looking at the intera for all 3 or maybe just the 2 younger ones and a britax bodyguard for the oldest. The intera comes with a VERY wide base but its easily removed and becomes one of the slimmest seats available. The body guard is adjustable in width anywhere from 13 to 16 inches, i assume a 5 year old would be on the slim side and would be able to use it at its slimmest.

Depending on you're state laws you may HAVE to use a booster. Most state laws require the child to be older than 6 and some states are changing it to over 8 and 80 pounds. Children need boosters until they are at least 4 ft 9 in, in a small car like yours its even more important they have them for extra side impact protection.

I would rather put a child in a booster in the front seat than in no booster in the back. That also would make it easier to use the other seats and possibly turn the youngest rear facing until she maxes out her seat (35 pounds) which is much safer than forward facing and again will help provide added safety in such a small car.
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Unregistered said:
I would rather put a child in a booster in the front seat than in no booster in the back. That also would make it easier to use the other seats and possibly turn the youngest rear facing until she maxes out her seat (35 pounds) which is much safer than forward facing and again will help provide added safety in such a small car.

If you have a RFing child, a FFing child, and a child in a booster, then the FF child in the carseat should go in the front, with the seat as far away from the airbag as possible (so depending on the height of the driver and the size of the RFing seat, the booster would go behind the FF in the passenger, and the RFing behind the driver). Since the front seat is less safe than the back you want to put the more protected child in the front. If there are no airbags that's actually the RFing child, but I'd bet a 2002 car has a passenger airbag and no off switch, so I'd put the FF child there and the booster and RFing in the outboard positions in the back.

Wendy
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
Thanks for the ideas. Unfortunately placing a child in the front seat won't work for two reasons, one I'm uncomfortable with it/airbab and secondly, the children's mom is too large to sit in the backseat.

How bad is the seat belt adjuster? Safety 1st says it's crash tested and the pic seems to indicate a proper fit on a child. Wouldn't that be safer than a belt only since the booster won't fit across with the other 2 seats? Also, I live in Canada.

Thanks
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
What about a Safety 1st Intera? Or 2? When the base is taken off they are EXTREMELY narrow. You could do 2 rf Intera's and a backless booster. Or 1 rf and 1 ff Intera and the backless. I LOVE my Intera. I have a small sedan and I have 2 Interas rf outboard and an Evenflo Express in the middle.
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
The seat adjuster is about as bad as you can get. It raises the lap portion from the hard hips (one of the strongest parts of the body) to the abdomen (soft and highly injurable and can be fatal with internal bleeding). It pulls the shoulder portion out of position as well, away from the shoulder (another strongest point). It pulls it down too low.

Crash tested by who? The company? Great, so they threw it at the wall. Even if it says it passes FMVSS 213 standards it still doesn't matter. FMVSS 213 doesn't cover after market products (it covers the manufacturering and testing of car seats).

Definitely look into the vests. The EZ Rider and Safe Vest (I think it is). They take up no space since they're not seats, but they'll adjust the shoulder and lap belts to a safe position.

Wendy
 

Lea_Ontario

Well-known member
The 200 Echo has a backseat with just a few hairs over 50" of rear hip-room.

You could easily fit 3 Intera seats across without thier bases. Or, if the 5yr old is too big for that, a booster in between 2 rear-facing Intera seats.

The Intera, without the base, is a mere 16" wide.
 

CandCfam

New member
The Ride Safer vest may not be available in Canada, I'm not sure on that. Someone with more knowledge on what seats are approved for Canadian use would need to answer that one. From what I gather so far, I don't think it is though.
 
B

bucket2

Guest
E-Z on's website

www.safertransport.com

They have good customer support, so I'm sure they can answer your questions. Check and make sure you have the necessary hardware (some E-Z on's require special tethers).


www.familyonboard.com offers two other vest/harnesses

Ride Safer Travel Vest by Safe Traffic Systems
Safety 1st Tote N Go DX Car Seat Harness

Sorry - I'm not up on CAN regs, but hopefully customer service or someone here can answer that.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
The Graco Cargos go to 48 pounds harnessed and top tethered in Canada, and also make fine narrow, armless boosters. The Enspira is rather wide, the Turbo is rather wide. There are no ridesafer travel vests there.

The seatbelt adjusters (there's a page on them at www.cpsafety.com) may not be dangerous when crash tested with crash dummies that have no abdominal sensors and firm torsoes, but they pretty much guarantee crushed guts when used on actual children (they pull the lapbelt up and the shoulderbelt down, so the forces aren't spread onto the pelvis and shoulder, but rather all into the soft abdomen). Given absolutely no other option, I'd rather see a child using a lap shoulderbelt alone than a seatbelt adjuster. :(

But I'd try Cargos first, and the scenera or Touriva, if you can find one.
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
getting there/Narrow Boosters?

I bought one of the last Regal Rides/Tourvias on the market (date of manufacture is Dec. 05, my other one is Jan. 06) at Canadian Tire today. I realized that it is a narrow seat and affordable (I'm single and volunteering my time with the kids/this family/foster parents too). I couldn't see any other solution and yesterday at Sears they said the Intera's base does not come out for use as a narrow infant/toddler seat, but they couldn't find the manual...

Now if I could just find a Narrow booster seat my problem will be solved. Any suggestions would be great and please note that I live in Canada and drive a 2002 Echo.

Thanks so much!
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
not much help here but just wanted to say that the people at sears dont know what they're talking about. the base does indeed come off of the intera(thats how mine are installed)
 

juliebug

New member
the narrowest booster are fisher price safe voyage booster, britax bodygard, britax starriser. they bottom of all 3 adjust to i think 13inche to about 16inches.
 

markf1971

Senior Community Member
Touriva

Use the narrowest seat that you can find (Touriva or Intera?) Here is a link to some common carseat measurements:

http://www.carseatdata.org/csnumbers.html

I WOULD DEFINITELY KEEP EACH CHILD IN A HARNESS UNTIL AT LEAST 40LBS, AND KEEP THEM RF UNTIL THE UPPER LIMITS OF THE SEATS. Touriva is RF to 35# and FF to 40#.

You could do 2 rf and a booster. Or 1 rf and 1 ff and a booster. Depending on the height and weight. Some backless boosters even have removable armrests which will allow for a better fit in a tight spot. I have friends that were putting their oldest child in the front seat with a booster because they thought that 3 across was impossible. I spent nearly an hour trying every possible configuration and nothing would make their 3 fit across the rear seat of their Toyota Corolla. I had them exchange their recently purchased combination seat for a Touriva and that gave them enough room to use all 3 across the rear seat.

I know that too many different suggestion might be confusing. I'm going to try and make this as simple as possible. Bottom line, buy seats that are appropriate for the height and weight of the children, but also buy seats that will fit your vehicle. Narrow seats like the Touriva or Intera.

The Touriva is the narrowest convertible seat that I have seen. Others have mentioned the Intera. I do not know the price, availability, or width of the Intera. I do know that the Touriva is about 16" wide and has sold for 40-50 dollars at Wal*Mart here in the USA. The availability has diminished since Cosco has recently stopped making the Touriva. I believe that Cosco has replaced the Touriva with the Scenera which is comparable to the Touriva, BUT the Scenera is a bit wider than the Touriva. You may even want to call Safety 1st to inquire about the width of the Intera. If Tourivas are not available to you locally then look for them on-line. Even though these seats are no longer being made they can still be found for sale.
 

Lea_Ontario

Well-known member
The base certainly DOES come off the Intera for use as a narrow toddler seat - just look at the installation stickers on the side of the seat, it shows it installed without the base.

Sorry, but the people at Sears don't have a clue - they're only retail salepeople, not car-seat experts.
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
the intera is 16.5" wide without the base and i think that # jumps up to around 19/20" with the base
 

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